Excel VBA: Finding column number of Nth field name - excel

Question

I have a function where I specify the field I want and the header row number and it returns the column. E.g. =findField("Region",1) would return the column number containing the header "Region". This worked well until I encountered a report containing duplicate names in the header row. E.g. instead of 1st and last name it would have "Name" for both fields so I needed to specify the occurrence I wanted as in =findField("Name",1,2) for the 2nd occurrence. I came up with a solution but it has 2 issues. The first is that if the field is in the first column it won't work properly. E.g. if columns A and B have "Name" then =findField("Name",1,1) would return the second field instead of the first and =findField("Name",1,2) would wrap around and return the 1st which is not what I want. The second issue is that it wraps around which I would prefer it not to do at all. What I came up with is as follows:
Function findField2(fieldName As String, Optional rowStart As Long = 0, Optional occurrence As Long = 1)
Dim Found As Range, lastRow As Long, count As Integer, myCol As Long
If rowStart = 0 Then rowStart = getHeaderRow()
myCol = 1
For count = 1 To occurrence
Set Found = Rows(rowStart).Find(what:=fieldName, LookIn:=xlValues, lookat:=xlWhole, After:=Cells(rowStart, myCol))
If Found Is Nothing Then
MsgBox "Error: Can't find '" & fieldName & "' in row " & rowStart
Exit Function
Else
myCol = Found.Column
End If
Next count
lastRow = Cells(Rows.count, Found.Column).End(xlUp).Row
findField2 = Found.Column
What do I need to do to allow for the field being in column A? Putting in 0 for myCol doesn't work. The initial finding function was based off https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/excel-questions/629346-vba-finding-text-row-1-return-column.html and I was tweaking it to suit my needs.
Thanks,
Ben

Answer 1

Here's something not using Find() which should still meet your goals:
Function findField2(fieldName As String, Optional rowStart As Long = 0, _
Optional occurrence As Long = 1)
Dim a, rw As Range, m
If rowStart = 0 Then rowStart = getHeaderRow()
With ActiveSheet 'might be better to pass the sheet as a parameter
Set rw = Application.Intersect(.Rows(rowStart), .UsedRange)
a = .Evaluate("=IF(" & rw.Address & "=""" & fieldName & _
""",COLUMN(" & rw.Address & "),FALSE)")
End With
m = Application.Small(a, occurrence) 'find the n'th match (will return an error if none)
If IsError(m) Then MsgBox "No occurrence #" & occurrence & " of '" & _
fieldName & "' on row# " & rowStart, vbExclamation
findField2 = IIf(IsError(m), 0, m)
End Function
Sub Tester()
Debug.Print findField2("A", 5, 40)
End Sub

Answer 2

Found-in-row Column feat. the Wrap Around Issue
No object references here i.e. everything refers to the ActiveSheet (of the ActiveWorkbook).
Find (After)
By default the Find method starts the search from the next cell (6. SearchDirection xlNext or 1) of the supplied cell range parameter of the After argument (2. After) i.e. in case you use cell A1 by row (5. SearchOrder xlByRows or 1), the search will start from B1, continue until the last column, wrap around and continue with A1 last. Therefore the last cell of the row has to be used to start the search with the first cell A1.
Wrap Around
The Wrap Around issue is solved with an If statement only if the Occurrence Number is greater than 1. If no occurrence was found, 0 is returned.
The column number of the found cell (intCol) is passed to a variable (intWrap) and every next occurrence of the value, they are checked against each other. Now, if the variable is equal to the column number, the function returns -1, indicating that the value was found but the specified occurrence has not been found.
'*******************************************************************************
' Purpose: Finds the Nth occurrence of a value in cells of a row *
' to return the column number of the cell where it was found. *
'*******************************************************************************
' Inputs *
' FindValue: The value to search for. *
' FindRow: The row to search in. *
' OccurrenceNumber: The occurrence number of the value to search for. *
'*******************************************************************************
' Returns: The column number of the Nth occurrence of the value. *
' 0 if value was not found. *
' -1 if value was found, but not the specified occurrence of it. *
' -2 if worksheet has no values (-4163). *
' -3 if workbook is add-in (No ActiveSheet). *
'*******************************************************************************
Function FoundinrowColumn(FindValue As Variant, Optional FindRow As Long = 0, _
Optional OccurrenceNumber As Integer = 1) As Integer
Dim intCol As Integer ' Search Start Column Number
Dim intCount As Integer ' OccurrenceNumber Counter
Dim intWrap As Integer ' Wrap Around Stopper
' Check if ActiveSheet exists.
If ActiveSheet Is Nothing Then FoundinrowColumn = -3: Exit Function
' Check if sheet has no values.
If Cells.Find("*", Cells(Rows.count, Columns.count), -4163, 1, 1) _
Is Nothing Then FoundinrowColumn = -2: Exit Function
' Find first used row if no FindRow parameter.
If FindRow = 0 Then
FindRow = Cells.Find("*", Cells(Rows.count, Columns.count)).Row
End If
' Set initial Search Start Column Number.
intCol = Columns.count
' Try to find the Nth occurence of 'FindValue' in 'FindRow'.
For intCount = 1 To OccurrenceNumber
If Not Rows(FindRow).Find(FindValue, Cells(FindRow, intCol)) Is Nothing Then
intCol = Rows(FindRow).Find(FindValue, Cells(FindRow, intCol)).Column
If intCount > 1 Then
If intCol = intWrap Then FoundinrowColumn = -1: Exit Function
Else
intWrap = intCol
End If
Else
FoundinrowColumn = 0: Exit Function
End If
Next
FoundinrowColumn = intCol
End Function
'*******************************************************************************

Answer 3

This version uses FindNext to search for occurrences after the first.
It searches Sheet1 of the workbook that the code is in (ThisWorkbook):
Sub Test()
Dim MyCell As Range
'Second occurrence default row.
Set MyCell = FindField("Date", Occurrence:=3)
If Not MyCell Is Nothing Then
MsgBox "Found in cell " & MyCell.Address & "." & vbCr & _
"Row: " & MyCell.Row & vbCr & "Column: " & MyCell.Column & vbCr & _
"Sheet: '" & MyCell.Parent.Name & "'" & vbCr & _
"Workbook: '" & MyCell.Parent.Parent.Name & "'", vbOKOnly + vbInformation
Else
MsgBox "Value not found."
End If
End Sub
Public Function FindField(FieldName As String, Optional RowStart As Long = 0, _
Optional Occurrence As Long = 1) As Range
Dim rFound As Range
Dim x As Long
Dim sFirstAdd As String
If RowStart = 0 Then RowStart = 1
x = 1
With ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("Sheet1").Rows(RowStart)
Set rFound = .Find( _
What:=FieldName, _
LookIn:=xlValues, _
LookAt:=xlWhole, _
After:=.Cells(RowStart, .Columns.Count))
If Not rFound Is Nothing Then
Set FindField = rFound
If Occurrence <> 1 Then
sFirstAdd = rFound.Address
Do
Set rFound = .FindNext(rFound)
x = x + 1
Loop While x <> Occurrence And rFound.Address <> sFirstAdd
If rFound.Address = sFirstAdd Then
Set FindField = Nothing
End If
End If
End If
End With
End Function

Answer 4

Thanks for your responses. I am picking up useful techniques which is of great help. I actually fixed the first issue based on #TimWilliams to set myCol to the last column so it starts the find at the first column and added a check for the wrap around per the below. I also changed the msgBox to return a value instead per #VBasic2008.
Function findField2(fieldName As String, Optional rowStart As Long = 0, Optional occurrence As Long = 1)
Dim Found As Range, lastRow As Long, count As Integer, myCol As Long
If rowStart = 0 Then rowStart = getHeaderRow()
myCol = 16384
For count = 1 To occurrence
Set Found = Rows(rowStart).Find(what:=fieldName, LookIn:=xlValues, lookat:=xlWhole, After:=Cells(rowStart, myCol))
' Check if nothing found or for wrap around and Nth occurrence not found
If Found Is Nothing Or count > 1 And Found.Column <= myCol Then
findField2 = 0
Exit Function
Else
myCol = Found.Column
End If
Next count
lastRow = Cells(Rows.count, Found.Column).End(xlUp).Row
findField2 = Found.Column
End Function
Here is the getHeaderRow function mentioned in the findField function above:
Function getHeaderRow() As Long
Dim i As Long, lastCol As Long, lastRow As Long
lastCol = Cells.Find("*", [a1], , , xlByColumns, xlPrevious).Column
lastRow = Cells.Find("*", [a1], , , xlByRows, xlPrevious).Row
i = 1
Do While Cells(i, lastCol).Value = ""
i = i + 1
If i > lastRow Then
i = 0
Exit Do
End If
Loop
getHeaderRow = i
End Function